America's Benefit Specialist November 2022

WORKPLACE LIFE, DISABILITY AND SUPPLEMENTAL HEALTH PREMIUMS REBOUND New annualized premium for workplace life insurance, disability insurance and supplemental health products increased in the second quarter, according to LIMRA’s workplace benefits sales surveys. “After a sluggish first quarter, sales for workplace life and disability insurance prod ucts experienced solid growth in the second quarter,” said Patrick Leary, corporate vice president and director of LIMRA workplace benefits research. “Despite inflationary concerns, the awareness among employees of the need for insurance coverage remains even after their concerns about COVID-19 have waned, which helps explain the contin ued growth in certain voluntary products.” Life Insurance: Overall, U.S. workplace life carriers wrote $587 million in total new annualized premium sales in the second quarter, eight percent higher than second quarter 2021. Through the first six months of 2022, new workplace life insurance annu alized premium totaled $2.2 billion, falling three percent from the same period in 2021. “Term life insurance sales makes up the large majority of total group life insurance premium and drove the growth in the second quarter. Workplace term premium increased nine percent in the second quarter but could not overcome the declines in the first quarter. As a result, term premium fell four percent in the first half of the year,” s aid Leary. Permanent life premium increased three percent in the second quarter and five percent in the first half of 2022. Permanent life products hold 15% market share of the workplace life insurance market. Disability Insurance: Total workplace dis ability insurance new annualized premium jumped 10% in the second quarter to $629 million. Despite the strong premium growth in the second quarter, first half workplace NOTEWORTHY

continued work-from-home policies, the tight labor market and shifting demograph ics on employee benefits offerings. The company’s first ever benchmarking report, which analyzed benefits data from more than 20,000 employees across the U.S., found that traditional health and wellness benefits such as fitness, nutrition, mental health, and spa, beauty and massage were the most popular offerings across companies of all sizes. In a nod to changing employee needs and pref erences, the study also uncovered a host of new creative and flexible benefits to support employees are also top of mind, including pet care, food, parental support, tuition reim bursement, and travel and vacation benefits. “Employees today want to work for organizations that value their well-being, so it makes sense that companies are search ing for new ways to prioritize employee wellness, especially as remote and hybrid work blurs the line between work and home. Our study findings show clear signals that companies are seeking to provide benefits that are highly personalized and flexible,” said Jaclyn Chen, CEO of Benepass. Based on an analysis of benefits data from large, medium and small U.S. busi nesses representing 20,000+ employees, the 2022 Benepass Benefits Benchmarking Report found: The Rise of Flexible Spending Accounts and Dependent Care FSAs: Of the various types of pre-tax accounts, FSAs are the most popular. DCFSAs ranked second. During the pandemic, parents faced the stress of working from home while their chil dren were in the next room due to closed daycares and schools, raising our overall consciousness of what it means to be a working parent. The popularity of DCFSAs suggests employers continue to explore how to support parents so they can be their best, most productive selves at work. Wellness perks most popular offering at large, midsize and small organizations:

disability premium was $2.1 billion, down four percent compared to prior year. “Premium increases in the second quarter were widespread, with two-thirds of carriers reporting gains, driven in large part by the employer-paid product lines,” Leary said. “After the past couple of years, our research suggests that employee demand and height ened recognition for the value of life insur ance and disability insurance will continue to rise over the next five years. However, a potential recession and other economic factors present headwinds to an otherwise positive outlook.” Supplemental Health Insurance: Total workplace supplemental health insurance product premium, which includes accident, critical illness, cancer, hospital indemnity insurance and other health supplemental health insurance products, was $485 million in the second quarter, nine percent higher than the same period in 2021. For the quarter, all supplemental health product lines recorded positive premium growth: Accident insurance grew six percent, critical illness climbed eight percent, cancer insurance improved nine percent and hospi tal indemnity experienced 10% growth. New annualized premium for workplace supplemental health products increased 10% in the first half of 2022 to $1.6 billion. LIMRA’s workplace benefits sales surveys for life insurance, disability insurance and supplemental health represent at least 90% of their respective annualized premium markets. The latest data table with U.S. workplace sales trends can be viewed at www.limra.com/en/newsroom/fact-tank/. STUDY ON WORKPLACE BENEFITS SEES WIDESPREAD ADOPTION OF CREATIVE BENEFITS TO SUPPORT WELLNESS AND MENTAL HEALTH A new benchmarking study from Bene pass illustrates the impact of the pandemic,

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